Emmie Glynn Ryan

Emmie Glynn Ryan currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Migration Services and the General Counsel and Chief of Staff of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens and Affiliated Agencies, continuing her lifelong goal of improving the lives of the less fortunate among us.

Born in Galway, Ireland, Emmie was admitted to practice law in 1984 before moving to England. There she passed the bar again and was admitted to practice law in London. A few years later, after Nicolae Ceausescu, the brutal dictator in Romania, was overthrown and assassinated, Emmie volunteered to work with children in orphanages and adults suffering from mental health issues who were warehoused, forgotten and abandoned in Romania. In 1991, she arrived in New York on the American Donnelly visa lottery program. Like many immigrants, Emmie initially worked two jobs to make ends meet. She volunteered to assist victims of domestic violence and in 1995; she passed the New York bar, thus eligible to practice law in three countries.

In 1997, Emmie came to Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens where she served as Director of Legal Affairs. Since then, her dedication and hard work took her far beyond that original responsibility where she later became Chief Compliance Officer, a position she held for several years.

From Romania to the streets of New York, Emmie worked tirelessly for the Mission of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens and Affiliated Agencies, and the Criminal Justice Committee of the New York State Catholic Conference. She is a member of several not for profit boards and committees.

In June of 2016, she was profiled in Our Town Weekly, a newspaper that serves Manhattan’s East Side, as “The Lawyer for Good Works.” Emmie was honored by The Irish American Building Society in New York City and is a recipient of the Vincenza DeFazio Award for outstanding contributions to the work of New York State Council of Catholic Charities.

Emmie resides in New York City with her husband Jim, retired news anchor of WNYC’s Good Day New York, and daughter Saoirse, who is currently in medical school.